As you wish: Clarksville, nation honor fallen soldier

From Today Show to Fort Campbell Remembrance and then back home to watch the lights come on across the nation, Baysore family experiences an unforgettable day

“My little man is so happy today,” said Jamie Baysore of her son Darren, 6, who asked people to turn on their porch lights to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of his soldier father, Staff Sgt. Thomas Baysore.
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CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The story of a 6-year-old Clarksville boy who has asked the public to turn on a porch light tonight to honor his father, a fallen Fort Campbell soldier, has gone viral globally.

On Friday morning, it was featured in a segment on NBC’s “Today” show.

Said Jamie Baysore, wife of Staff Sgt. Thomas Baysore of the 101st Airborne Division, who was killed in action in Afghanistan one year ago Friday, “We did the interview by phone and they posted pictures, but when they saw the numbers on the story, they asked to come over on Sunday with a camera crew for half the day.”

Seeing his father’s picture on TV was a big moment for her son, Darren, 6, who started things rolling with a simple request through his mother on Wednesday to The Leaf-Chronicle.

They had no idea of the extent of what would happen as a result of Darren’s request for people to turn on their porch lights so his dad would see he was remembered.

On The Leaf-Chronicle alone, the story was shared nearly 35,0000 times as a result of local military Facebook users who gave the story visibility that soon transcended Clarksville, and then the U.S.

Jamie told “Today” that she had already received pictures from the other side of the world as night fell in Japan and China, as well as from Europe and all across the U.S. In Afghanistan, she said, soldiers with no front porch were shining headlights and flashlights.

On Friday afternoon, Jamie then took Darren, as planned, to the Sabalauski Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, where they took part in a one-year anniversary remembrance get-together with members of her husband’s unit and their families.

“At the Air Assault School,” Jamie told The Leaf-Chronicle, “they made us honorary Air Assault soldiers. It’s a real thing. If you go into the Air Assault database, we’ll be on there with our story.”

The family was back home on Friday evening.

As first reported in The Leaf-Chronicle on Wednesday, Darren Baysore asked everyone who could to turn their porch light on in memory of his father on the one-year anniversary of his father’s death.

He also asked people to post the pictures of their porch lights (or if they don’t have one, a candlelight) and a note saying where they’re posting from to a Facebook page called “Shining Love to Daddy Baysore.”

Created Wednesday afternoon, the page already had over 17,000 “Likes” as of 7 p.m. Friday.

The Leaf-Chronicle will report on the afterglow of all those porch lights on Saturday and in print in the Sunday edition.